A portion of the disclosure of this patent document contains or may contain material that is subject to copyright protection. The copyright owner has no objection to the photocopy reproduction by anyone of the patent document or the patent disclosure in exactly the form it appears in the Patent and Trademark Office patent file or records, but otherwise reserves all copyright rights whatsoever.
The present invention relates in general to a gaming device, and more particularly to a gaming device displaying a plurality of symbols, wherein each symbol is included on a separate reel, and wherein the game includes paylines positioned such that the implementor can flexibly provide reel strips having different symbol distributions.
Referring to FIGS. 1A and 1B, which are described in detail below, a known central display device 30 is illustrated with five vertical reels 34 and a payline 56. The gaming industry standard is to provide three to five vertical reels and display three symbols per reel, as illustrated. The paylines 56, which are sets of adjacent or juxtaposed symbols that the game analyzes to determine if the game has randomly generated a winning symbol or symbol combination, typically do not include more than one symbol from each reel. Including more than one symbol from the same reel on the same payline disrupts the mathematics of the game because one random number generating device, the reel, can supply more than one winning symbol or winning symbol combination component. The implementor would thus have to consider the relative spacing of the symbols on the reel, not just the number of symbols on the reel, in determining the odds of generating any particular symbol or symbol combination.
Many known gaming devices display multiple symbols of a single reel and accordingly display multiple symbols when the reels spin. These known games typically include at least one reel having a different symbol distribution than the other reels. Different symbol distributions provide the game designer or implementor flexibility in designing winning combinations and varying payouts. Many known gaming devices include multiple paylines, such as payline 56. When the multiple paylines include more than one or all the reels of the game, the symbol distribution of each reel determines some of the game characteristics that limit the game implementor.
In an effort to provide a gaming device capable of more flexible payline layouts, manufactures have developed gaming devices displaying a plurality of columns of symbols as illustrated in FIGS. 1A and 1B, but wherein each symbol is included on a separate reel. That is, referring to the furthest right reel 34 of FIGS. 1A and 1B, the bell, the seven and the cherries each represent, are part of and are included on a separate reel. Each xe2x80x9cunisymbol display reelxe2x80x9d thus displays one symbol to the player on the display. In FIGS. 1A and 1B, there would be fifteen different reels if the figures included unisymbol display reels. Unisymbol display reels typically exist as simulated symbols on video monitors. IGT, the assignee of this invention, manufactures and distributes a nine reel game called xe2x80x98Super 8 Racexe2x80x99, which includes unisymbol display reels in a 3 by 3 matrix.
Referring to FIG. 3, an exploded representation of a prior art unisymbol display embodiment is illustrated having nine separate displayed symbols xe2x80x9cAxe2x80x9d through xe2x80x9cIxe2x80x9d of a central display device 30 and nine respective exploded reels 100 through 116. The reels 100 through 116 each include a single symbol (or blank) displayed on the central display device 30. A rotational arrow is also illustrated for each reel 100 through 116 indicating that any symbol on the central display device 30 can change individually.
FIG. 3 also illustrates paylines one through eight connecting the symbols. The unisymbol display reels 100 through 116 enable vertical paylines, as illustrated by paylines four, five and six because the relative spacing problems associated with vertical paylines on multisymbol display reels are inapplicable. Symbol xe2x80x9cAxe2x80x9d is included on a reel that is different from the reel of symbol xe2x80x9cDxe2x80x9d, etc.
Unisymbol display reels also enable the implementor to design highly unlikely winning combinations with very large payouts, which players"" desire, and which typically cannot exist on normal multisymbol display reels. For a player playing all eight paylines, for example, the implementor can create a large payout for the random generation of nine of any particular symbol, xe2x80x9ce.g.xe2x80x9d nine xe2x80x9cA""sxe2x80x9d, one on each reel. A three by three multisymbol display reel would have to place three of the same symbols next to each other on the three separate reel strips to create the possibility of displaying nine of the same symbol. As stated above, this disrupts the mathematics of the game because the odds are dependent on the relative spacing of the symbols on the reel.
Unisymbol display reels have a drawback in comparison with multisymbol display reels. Referring again to prior art FIG. 3 and assuming that a winning combination of any three adjacent xe2x80x9cAxe2x80x9d symbols on a payline yields an award, the mathematics of the game dictate that each reel contains the same proportion of xe2x80x9cAxe2x80x9d symbols. If, for instance, the reels 100 through 114 include one xe2x80x9cAxe2x80x9d symbol and reel 116 includes two xe2x80x9cAxe2x80x9d symbols, and assuming each reel strip has ten symbols, the odds of obtaining an xe2x80x9cAxe2x80x9d, xe2x80x9cAxe2x80x9d, xe2x80x9cAxe2x80x9d combination would vary depending upon which payline the player played. That is, the odds of obtaining an xe2x80x9cAxe2x80x9d, xe2x80x9cAxe2x80x9d, xe2x80x9cAxe2x80x9d combination on paylines one, two, four, five and eight are (1/10)xc3x97(1/10)xc3x97(1/10) or 1000:1. However, the odds of obtaining an xe2x80x9cAxe2x80x9d, xe2x80x9cAxe2x80x9d, xe2x80x9cAxe2x80x9d combination on paylines three, six and seven are (1/10)xc3x97(1/10)xc3x97(2/10) or 500:1. The differing odds force the game to maintain separate payouts for the same winning combination and cause player confusion.
Another drawback arises when in a winning symbol combination such as xe2x80x9cAxe2x80x9d, xe2x80x9cAxe2x80x9d, xe2x80x9cAxe2x80x9d, a necessary symbol, i.e., xe2x80x9cAxe2x80x9d is not included on one of the reels, e.g., reel 116. In this situation, the winning paylines one, two, four, five and eight enable the player to win the award associated with the xe2x80x9cAxe2x80x9d, xe2x80x9cAxe2x80x9d, xe2x80x9cAxe2x80x9d combination, whereas paylines three, six and seven do not. With both drawbacks, differing reel strips create payline inequities that force the gaming device implementors to place the same proportion of the same symbols on each of the reels strips. The current apparatus configuration and method for evaluating winning combinations thus severely restricts the flexibility of the design of a game having unisymbol display reels.
A need exists to provide a unisymbol display reel gaming device that enables unique winning combinations having high yielding prizes, enables the implementor to employ different reel strips and enables winning combinations having uniform odds on each payline. The present invention achieves these criteria by removing either the vertical or horizontal paylines, preferably the vertical paylines, from the known unisymbol display reel gaming device.
By removing the vertical paylines and thereby including only one unisymbol display per column in any given payline, the odds of obtaining any given symbol on a unisymbol reel of a column can be different from the odds of obtaining the same symbol on a different column because each payline will include or account for the change in odds. In this way each payline will maintain the same odds of generating any particular symbol or symbol combination. The present invention in this embodiment thus includes: unisymbol display reels; horizontal or diagonal paylines or combinations thereof; and different reel strips in different columns of independent, unisymbol display reels.
Likewise, by removing the horizontal paylines and thereby including only one unisymbol display per row in any given payline, the odds of obtaining any given symbol on a unisymbol reel of a row can be different from the odds of obtaining the same symbol on a different row because each payline will include or account for the change in odds. In this way, each payline will maintain the same odds of generating any particular symbol or symbol combination. By removing the horizontal paylines, the present invention can include: unisymbol display reels; vertical or diagonal paylines or combinations thereof; and different reel strips in different rows of independent, unisymbol display reels.
The present invention also contemplates arranging the independent, unisymbol display reels in unique non-rectangular shapes. The present invention can place the independent, unisymbol display reels in any position or configuration and maintain the above mentioned design criteria as long as each different reel strip maintained by any given embodiment of the present invention appears the same number of times on each payline.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a gaming device with a plurality of unisymbol display reels, which enable unique winning combinations having high yielding prizes.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a gaming device with a plurality of unisymbol display reels, different reel strips on the reels and winning symbols and symbol combinations having uniform odds on each payline.
Other objects, features and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the following detailed disclosure, taken in conjunction with the accompanying sheets of drawings, wherein like numerals refer to like parts, elements, components, steps and processes.